Kathleen Dunphy workshop

Kathleen Dunphy plein air workshop was an amazing experience.  Not only was the town of Murphys quite a discovery (who wudda thunk), but in 3 days, Kathleen managed to make plein air painting “do-able.”  Up until now, my efforts have been cumbersome and inefficient – and not worth the energy.  And several of the lessons (aha moments) apply to studio work as well.

Quick rundown of the major take-aways:

-  Don’t take anything you don’t need; and you need much less than you think.  I had already streamlined my backpack and reduced what I brought to the bare minimums since I was flying.  After the first morning lecture, I managed to reduce my pack by another 50%.  I got rid of all the “aids” I’ve never used, the extra paints and mediums and resolved to take the glass out of my palette box.

- You can make almost any color you need with a very limited palette.  Kathleen had us using the basics: Titanium White, Cad Yellow Lemon, Naples Yellow, Perm Red, Ultramarine Blue and Cold Grey.  Everything else derived from those tubes of paint.

- Draw, sketch for design (composition)  Shape of composition determines shape and size of canvas. Put drawing on canvas then look at the scene.

- Pre-mix colors: Standard secondaries: violet, orange & green.  Then colors to match the scene.  Can see the whole basic color selection on palette – great to preview to make sure they all work together.

Finally, Kathleen takes her studies to the studio for the final 10% painting.  The three days’ work is still unfinished, will post finished ones once they are done.  In the mean time, here’s what came out of the weekend.